This invention relates to rolling mills having provision for applying roll bending forces to the work rolls of the mill.
It is known to apply bending forces to the bearing chock assemblies mounted at opposite ends of the work rolls of a mill by positioning fluid operated rams in parts of the mill housing which project into the mill window. These parts may be integral with the housing or may take the form of blocks which are secured to opposite walls of the housing. In these blocks, rams are located such that the piston of one ram projects from the top of the block and is engageable with the underside of a part of the bearing chock assembly on one roll and another piston projects from the underside of the block and bears against an upwardly disposed surface on the bearing chock assembly of the other roll. When the bearing chock assemblies are only free to move vertically towards and away from each other, there are no particular problems because the line of action of the rams is also vertical. In certain applications, however, it is desirable that the work rolls should be displaceable axially and, thus, in addition to moving vertically, the bearing chock assemblies at the ends of the work rolls must also be free to move axially of the roll thereby moving in the direction at right angles to the line of action of the fluid operated rams. This can result in damage being caused to the rams, particularly if an attempt is made to move the rolls axially while the rams are energised to apply bending forces to the rolls by way of the bearing chock assemblies.